President Presents Medal of Honor to Former Army Sergeant

By J.D. Leipold

Army News Service

WASHINGTON, May 14, 2014 – Former Army Sgt. Kyle Jerome White was
awarded the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama at a White House
ceremony yesterday, making him the sixth living Army recipient and the
14th from all services to earn the medal in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

Former
Army Sgt. Kyle Jerome White receives the Medal of Honor from President
Barack Obama for his life-saving actions during a Nov. 9, 2007, Taliban
ambush in Afghanistan. White received the nation's highest military
award at a May 13, 2014, White House ceremony. U.S. Army photo by J.D.
Leipold(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

Obama opened his remarks in the East Room by paying tribute not
just to White, but to what he referred to as the "9/11 generation," all
those young citizens who came forth after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks on the United States to volunteer their service knowing fully
well what the cost could be.

"For more than 12 years, with our
nation at war, the men and women of our armed forces have known the
measure of danger that comes with military service," he said. "But year
after year, tour after tour, they have displayed a selfless willingness
to incur it -- by stepping forward, by volunteering, by serving and
sacrificing greatly to keep us all safe.

"Today, our troops are
coming home," he added, saying that by year's end the war in Afghanistan
will be over. "And, today, we pay tribute to a soldier who embodies the
courage of his generation -- a young man who was a freshman in high
school when the Twin Towers fell, and who just five years later became
an elite paratrooper with the legendary 173rd Airborne -- the Sky
Soldiers."

The president recounted the Nov. 9, 2007, ambush
outside the village of Aranas in Afghanistan’s Nuristan province, in
which five soldiers and a Marine would perish, as White's unit of 13
Americans and a squad of Afghan soldiers descended into what was called
"Ambush Alley." Suddenly, the chatter of AK-47s and the smoke trails of
rocket-propelled grenades lit up the valley, sending shattered shards
and chunks of red-hot metal and rock flying.

With nowhere to
escape the three-pronged onslaught but down a steep decline, White, 1st
Lt. Matthew Ferrara, Spc. Kain Schilling, Marine Corps Sgt. Phillip
Bocks and an interpreter were left stranded as the rest of the unit slid
160 feet down the mountain.

Then a specialist, the 20-year-old
White emptied one 30-round clip from his M-4, but as he went to slide
another into place, an RPG screamed in nearby. "It was just lights out,"
he said later. That wouldn't be the last time that day he would be
rocked by a nearby explosion.

White saw his buddy Schilling
trying to stay in the shade of what Schilling later recalled "as the
smallest tree on earth." Schilling had been wounded severely in his
right upper arm, so White sprinted to Schilling, applied a tourniquet,
then saw Bocks.

After four sprints and attempts to pull Bocks to
cover, White finally was successful, and he began administering first
aid. He applied a tourniquet, but it was too late. Bocks’ wounds had
been too severe, and he passed away. When White looked up, he saw
Schilling take another round, this time to his left leg. Again, he
sprinted to Schilling. Out of tourniquets, he used his belt and was able
to once again stop the bleeding.

While the one-way battle
continued, White saw his lieutenant lying face-down. He ran to Ferrara's
aid, but found he was dead. As White once recalled in an interview, he
had accepted that he and Schilling weren't going to make it through this
firefight.

"It's just a matter of time before I'm dead," White
had said. "I figured if that's going to happen, I might as well help
while I can."

White next secured a radio, as both his and
Schilling's had been destroyed by small-arms fire. He relayed a
situational report and called for mortars, artillery, air strikes and
helicopter guns runs. Suddenly, and for the second time that day, an
explosion that "scrambled my brains a little bit there," concussed
White. A friendly 120-mm mortar round had fallen a bit short of its
intended target.

Though struggling to keep Schilling and himself
from falling asleep, White eventually was able to lay out a landing zone
and assist the flight medic in hoisting all the wounded aboard. Only
then did he allow himself to be medically evacuated.

Today,
nearly seven years later, White and the other survivors of the Battle of
Aranas wear a stainless steel wristband made by one of the unit's
soldiers. Each is etched with the names of those who didn't come home:
1st Lt. Matthew C. Ferrara, Sgt. Jeffery S. Mersman, Spc. Sean K.A.
Langevin, Spc. Lester G. Roque, Pfc. Joseph M. Lancour and Marine Corps
Sgt. Phillip A. Bocks.

"Kyle, members of Chosen Company, you did
your duty, and now it's time for America to do ours," Obama said. "You
make us proud, and you motivate all of us to be the best we can be as
Americans, as a nation."

Following the ceremony, White offered his thoughts to the media:

"I wear this medal for my team. I also wear a piece of metal around my
wrist. It was given to me by another survivor of the 9 November ambush;
he wears an identical one," he said. "This has made it even more
precious than the medal just placed around my neck. On it are the names
of six fallen brothers; they are my heroes."